What Separates Web
Winners From Losers

Updated March 12, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

By David A. Aaker and Robert Jacobson. Mr. Aaker is vice chairman of Prophet Brand Strategy and author of "Brand Leadership" (Free Press, 2000). Mr. Jacobson is a professor of marketing at the University of Washington School of Business Administration.

T he small number of Internet firms advertising in this year's Super Bowl, eToys filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and Yahoo!'s earnings warnings all illustrate the harsh reality facing dot-com firms. Yet some dot-coms remain strong, albeit well off...